


no sanctuary

by mayachain



Category: Shetland (TV)
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Dysfunctional Family, Episode Related, Episode Tag, First Love, Guilt, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 19:56:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14722607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayachain/pseuds/mayachain
Summary: He should have gone to find Joe as soon as he heard about his mother.





	no sanctuary

He should have gone to find Joe as soon as he heard about his mother. Angus knew that. But his Dad had seemed to be around whenever he thought to leave the house, and the longer he went without doing anything, the less he felt he could look Joe in the eye if ( _when_ ) he sought him out.

Uncle Jimmy had wanted to keep people apart until he’d had the chance to talk to everyone. That was why Angus hadn’t run off right away, cause he’d known Uncle Jimmy would come round. A murder detective had the best chance to solve the case if _he_ got to talk to people _first_. That was it, wasn’t it? ( _Wasn’t it?_ Or had part of Angus feared that Joe might’ve been the one who had – not _murdered_ , not _Joe_ \- who had got into an argument with Doctor Blake?)

With Joe so far away, the thing that’d made his father so mad hadn’t been relevant to his life. Joe had been far away, and Angus had always preferred to say things in person. Email just wasn’t the same, sometimes Mum demanded to see his phone, and using skype wasn’t worth the risk of his parents overhearing. He’d preferred not to think about it, had preferred never to think about Joe aside from a vague notion of seeing where they stood once Angus turned old enough to go to school on the mainland. (His relationship with his father was _fine_ as long as he didn’t think about Joe.)

It had all come back in a rush when Joe had turned up at the party. Joe knew how Angus liked to settle things face to face, must have hoped – must have _known_ – that Angus would have liked to see him. If Angus’ father hadn’t been right there… if Joe had waited a little longer to approach him instead of making a _point_ … then Angus would have hugged him. He could have done that much at least in front of everyone.

Only Dad had sent Joe away and Angus hadn’t seen him again before going home. Hadn’t seen him again before Doctor Blake’s... murder.

Having Cassie on Fair Isle had helped. He’d always liked her, and right then she’d provided a nice distraction. She’d been his friend for years, and yes, he’d sometimes felt a little inadequate, what with her having lived on the big island and the mainland, but this time Angus had helped her father Uncle Jimmy with his investigation. If not for the circumstances, it would have made for stellar bragging rights.

She hadn’t known about Joe. Back before Doctor Blake had sent him away, Angus had wanted to wait until he could tell Cassie about them in person. She’d known about Angus, though. They’d never talked much about it, but she’d known.

With months gone by with no contact, Angus had thought, guiltily, that maybe he and Joe had only fallen together because they’d been the only guys around on this islet of seventy people. The moment he’d seen Joe standing there at his party like a mirage… complete with his own father trying to shoo the spirit away… had handily obliterated _that_.

A guy just didn’t feel such a surge of happiness unless it was _real_ – but if it was real, then why was he such a coward and hadn’t gone to seek out Joe after Doctor Blake had been murdered?

He should have gone to find Joe. Should have gone and found him on his wanderings, should’ve walked with him, should’ve sat with him in one of his favourite spots. Not played games with Cassie just because Cassie needed entertainment at her grandparents’. (If he’d _asked_ Cassie, she would have found a way for him to slip out. Angus knew she went around her old man sometimes; that had to be _hard_ , Uncle Jimmy being a detective now.)

Joe’s mother had _died_. Angus should have gone to see him, and damn every single person on this island.

 

.


End file.
